The present invention relates to a foldable trailer and more particularly to a trailer of the type having a normally horizontal frame, a platform secured to and carried by the frame and an axle with wheels, for transporting goods behind an automobile or like vehicle.
Trailers of the type having a platform surface, generally enclosed with walls and a roof, and having at least one pair of wheels with an axle secured below the platform surface, are commonly used for commercial or domestic transportation purposes to carry a wide range of goods from one place to another, behind a car, van, small truck or the like. Most often, such trailers are rented through car or trailer rental organizations. A hitch mechanism is secured to the bumper of the renter's vehicle, and the trailer is secured to that hitch. The renter then returns the hitch and trailer either to the same location or, when the renter for example is moving from one city to another, to a different location operated by the renting company, in the other city. This latter situation has created a problem for rental companies operating on a national basis, since an abundance of trailers may develop in a particular city and a scarcity in another, for example because economic conditions in one region of a country may be such as to create either an inflow or an outflow of persons many of whom rent such trailers to transport their positions when the move. Because of the bulky and unwieldly nature of such trailers, it becomes very expensive, and often uneconomical, for the rental company to ship their trailers from a city in which there is an over-abundance of such trailers to one in which there is a scarcity. Such transportation would traditionally be by train or by transport truck. Because of the space taken up by the trailers in question, the transportation costs of such trailers from one city to another may well be prohibitive.
Thus, a trailer which would collapse into a minimal amount of space would be an extremely desirable product for such rental companies, since it would permit a significantly greater number of trailers to be transported in a given space on a truck or train. This would mean that transportation of a number of trailers from an area where there was an overabundance of them to an area requiring more trailers would become economical.
The concept of a collapsible trailer or the like cannot be regarded as being new. For example, in Canadian Pat. No. 252,506 issued Aug. 11, 1925 to Gleissner, there is described a collapsible trailer of the type in question which may be readily knocked down and carried, for example, on the running board of a car of that vintage. Such previous attempts to provide a collapsible trailer however have not been commercially successful however because of several significant problems. Firstly, the collapsing mechanism has oftentimes been extremely expensive and complicated to bring into practice. For example, in the Gleissner patent, the trailer collapses along a longitudinal line so that provision must be made for collapsing of portions of the axle. In addition, such collapsing trailers would not be suitable for modern day standards where rigidity and security of the trailer during normal operation must be achieved while at the same time maintaining the trailer platform, if the trailer is to be enclosed, free from dirt or moisture which might otherwise enter the trailer along the lines where it collapses.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and economical construction of collapsible trailer of the type in question. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a collapsible trailer which will fold up into a fraction of its normal, operative size. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a trailer which, when in fully operative position, will be both rigid and effective in keeping moisture, dust and other foreign objects away from the platform area or the enclosed space above the space.